So my trusty Maestro sitter had never been reamed since I got it over a year ago, and it gets smoked daily. As a result, it acquired a cake that started to get to the point of closing almost half of the inside diameter! Actually I only just noticed this recently. Don't ask how or why, I have no explanation...
Also not sure why that pipe seems to build cake thicker and faster than some of the other pipes that get a daily workout, but I digress.
I'd not really had to deal with such a thick cake before, and took my time while I carefully scraped away with a pipe tool. All while trying my best to stay even from top to bottom.
The result was that the top opening was now reamed pretty much down to the thickness of a dime (which is what I've read cake should be) yet the bottom half was still kind of narrow, but still more open than before.
Not wanting to ream too much on the bottom half I decided to stop there and see what the results were, so I fired up a bowl later that evening.
That pipe is pretty much dedicated to just 2 blends right now - P&W Churchill and #78. Both are what I'd call "medium English blends" and have a moderate amount of Latakia.
Now to the point - since reaming, the flavor of these blends has changed somewhat. Hard to describe just exactly how, yet both seem to lack the complexity they had before. I've smoked the pipe with those blends for about a week now and am kind of disappointed in the results.
So what's going on here? I'm pretty used to the way those 2 blends taste and now they are different after the reaming. Or did I just get used to the flavor changes gradually over a long period of time while the pipe built cake?
Almost felt like I should go back and ream the bottom half better, but now I'm not so sure. I really like this pipe so would hope to get it back smoking good again. Perhaps after I create some new cake it'll return to the former performance?
Any sage advice?
TIA
Cheers,
RR
Also not sure why that pipe seems to build cake thicker and faster than some of the other pipes that get a daily workout, but I digress.
I'd not really had to deal with such a thick cake before, and took my time while I carefully scraped away with a pipe tool. All while trying my best to stay even from top to bottom.
The result was that the top opening was now reamed pretty much down to the thickness of a dime (which is what I've read cake should be) yet the bottom half was still kind of narrow, but still more open than before.
Not wanting to ream too much on the bottom half I decided to stop there and see what the results were, so I fired up a bowl later that evening.
That pipe is pretty much dedicated to just 2 blends right now - P&W Churchill and #78. Both are what I'd call "medium English blends" and have a moderate amount of Latakia.
Now to the point - since reaming, the flavor of these blends has changed somewhat. Hard to describe just exactly how, yet both seem to lack the complexity they had before. I've smoked the pipe with those blends for about a week now and am kind of disappointed in the results.
So what's going on here? I'm pretty used to the way those 2 blends taste and now they are different after the reaming. Or did I just get used to the flavor changes gradually over a long period of time while the pipe built cake?
Almost felt like I should go back and ream the bottom half better, but now I'm not so sure. I really like this pipe so would hope to get it back smoking good again. Perhaps after I create some new cake it'll return to the former performance?
Any sage advice?
TIA
Cheers,
RR